


Stars

by Abyssia



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26273086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abyssia/pseuds/Abyssia
Summary: Hapilin week day 4 "stars"Hapi and Linhardt share a moment under the stars, looking ever forward for perhaps the first time.
Relationships: Hapi/Linhardt von Hevring
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Hapi x Linhardt, HapiLinWeek2020





	Stars

**Author's Note:**

> art by @VharzosiNSFW on twitter!

“Hapi? I had hoped to find you here.”

Hapi inclines her head but doesn’t turn fully around. She hears him approach and before long Linhardt is standing by her side. He doesn’t say anything further for the moment, only joins her in looking up at the stars.

“Did you need something?” Hapi asks after a brief silence.

Linhardt shrugs. “Is it not enough to desire your company?”

Hapi doesn’t answer, looking away as her cheeks warm slightly. There was no real need to question it. Like her, Linhardt had no love for crowds. But if all he wanted was to get a breath of fresh air, why was he standing so close?

“Linny—”

“Did you know that your crest is associated with the stars, according to some sealed texts?”

Hapi presses her lips together. “Not really. Well, I guess?” She shrugs. “Everyone in my village loved to study the stars.”

“Fascinating,” Linhardt then falls silent again.

Hapi glances over at him. “What about your crest?” She asks by way of continuing the conversation. “What do the ancient scholars have to say about it?”

Linhardt looks back at her, his eyes suddenly sparkling. “Oh? Well, Cethleann was considered to be a patron saint of lovers and courtship rituals. And so her crest symbol is often associated with such things.”

“Ah...” she turns her eyes back to the middle distance before looking up again at the sky. “Did you...find anything else out about my crest?”

“Hm?” Linhardt presses his lips together. “Not particularly, unfortunately.”

“You know...” she continues. “There’s a whole lot of records and stuff in my village. Old star charts and legends and stuff.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I didn’t really read them, though.”

“That’s quite understandable. You were quite young when you left your village, correct?”

“Yeah.”

Linhardt’s eyes linger on Hapi’s face for a few moments more.

“Look, Linny. If you want to investigate my crest and all, even try to fix my issue that’s fine. But you don’t have to keep forcing yourself to spend time with me.”

“Force myself...?” Linhardt gives her a genuinely puzzled look. “Hapi, I enjoy the time spent with you.”

“Okay,” she shrugs, her hands tightening into fists where they rest on the stone bannister.

Linhardt continues “Anyway, if that’s the case, then perhaps I should make the effort to accompany you back to your village?”

Hapi suppresses a sigh and presses her lips together. “It’s been a long time. I remember how to get there but...”she trails off.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to return?”

“I mean. I left for a reason in the first place,” in truth, she wants to go home. She never meant to abandon her family for this long. It was more the memory of what had happened to her after having scarcely left her village. “I can just...Tell you how to get there and you can hire some mercenaries that know how to use the Guiding Star.”

“The...Guiding Star?”

Hapi looks at Linhardt. “Wait, you don’t know about the Guiding Star? What about navigating using the stars in general?”

“Using the stars to navigate? I may have heard of something like that but, not in any sort of detail.”

Hapi grimaces, the conversations she had with Yuri starting to come back to her. “Fodlan is so weird. The church is so weird.“ She grimaces, letting out a huff and pointing up. “See that box of stars? And then the line? That really bright one at the end,” she says. “That’s how you can always find north.”

“I see,” Linhardt replies, his expression softening into one of pleased understanding.

Hapi shrugs again. “And in general, if you just memorize the stars, you can figure out where you are depending on the time of year.”

“But...don’t the stars change position every day?”

Hapi gives him a slightly dumb-founded look. This was also going to be a long one. “Yeah but...they go back to the same positions every year.”

Linhardt still doesn’t seem to fully understand, and Hapi elects to relent for the moment. “Well, if we can make it there, you can help yourself to the star charts too.”

“I would very much like that,” he says, casting his eyes up once again. “But you should come with me. Since I may be able to finally learn how to cure your issue.”

Hapi gives him a skeptical glance. “I’m assuming you haven’t forgotten what that ‘issue’ is, right?” She grimaces. “There’s a lot of wild monsters in that area of Adrestia. Me coming along will just endanger you, and everyone else there.”

“Hapi,” Linhardt says, pulling a little closer. “I am going there primarily for your sake, there would hardly even be a point if you didn’t go with me.”

Hapi shrugs, avoiding his eyes.

“Additionally, it’s an isolated village, isn’t it? Why on earth would they allow in some stranger, especially if I came with an armed escort?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Is there another reason you do not wish to return? If that’s the case, then I encourage you to inform me.”

“Look,” Hapi says, turning to look over and meet Linhardt’s eyes. “There’s a tradition in my village right? We’re isolated, very few outsiders. But every now and again, someone will leave and bring back a spouse,” she says, her eyes drifting into the middle distance.

“Yes...and that relates...how?”

Hapi scoffs. “If I show up after all this time with some guy, they’re gonna assume you’re my husband and make a whole big deal of it. It will be a total drag.”

Linhardt blinks. “I don’t exactly see how that would be an issue.”

Hapi gives him a bewildered look. “You don’t see an issue with someone assuming some random girl is your fiancée when it’s not true?”

Linhardt furrows his brow. “Hapi, you’re not some ‘random girl’, you are someone who is very important to me. And I wish to read those manuscripts for your sake.”

“For the sake of discovering the secret of my crest, I know.”

“No,” he grimaces. “Hapi...” he then looks down at his hands, appearing to be at a loss at what to say. “Perhaps we can find some other way, then,” he remarks. “I for one, think that I would quite enjoy being assumed to be bound in marriage to you. But I can see that my sentiment isn’t returned,” he says, rather matter-of-factory with only the smallest hint of melancholy.

“Wait—” she gasps. “Linhardt—”

“I apologise, I said I would refrain from such over sincerity, but it is the truth,” he says, his expression warm enough to make Hapi feel like she might cry.

“Uhg,” she grunts, letting her hands fall from the bannister and turning away. Linhardt doesn’t look at her, perhaps assuming that she will walk away, but instead, Hapi lunges forward, throwing her arms around Linhardt and burying her face in his neck.

Linhardt gasps and sways on his feet, narrowly avoiding losing his balance. “Hapi!?”

“I don’t want to believe it.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I don’t want to...” she grimaces, turning her head to the side as she speaks. “If you really feel that way about me, then that means that I’m not an idiot for having feelings for you too.”

“Hapi—”

“And if we both like each other, then that means it’s totally fine for us to date and be a couple and all that,” she continues, her throat starting to close up from impending tears. “And then that also means, that if I end up getting you killed— then that will probably be the worst possible thing that could ever happen to me!” She wails, Linhardt, for the moment having the good sense to remain quiet, his hands still hanging at his sides. “That’s why I didn’t want to...to feel. Because if I did,” she coughs. “Then you might die, just from being near me.”

“In that case,” Linhardt replies calmly, lifting one hand to rest on her back. “I can only see that the effort to rectify your ailment must be completed with even greater haste.”

Hapi pulls her head up and meets his eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she stares back at him. Linhardt’s expression is mostly blank, but she sees how his focus falls to her cheek, before one hand lifts to wipe that tear away with his thumb. He lets that hand fall away and then tentatively rests one arm around her waist.

Hapi turns away from him, but doesn’t push away, sniffling and a little embarrassed. Just hoping that she doesn’t end up feeling too much. Linhardt looks at her, his expression gentle as he lifts one hand to push a lock of hair away from her tear stained face.

He doesn’t speak, but instead looks back up at the stars, and Hapi joins him. She takes in a few more shuddering breaths until her breathing has calmed, and she now has a moment to take in the warmth of Linhardt’s closeness.

“Linny,” she mutters. “It’s alright you don’t have to keep holding me like this.”

“I would like to stay like this, if it is all the same to you,” he replies.

“Ah...okay then,” she says softly. As in truth, she would also rather not let go any time soon.


End file.
